Thursday, January 1, 2015

New Year's Day is an
arbitrary and mostly fictional marker. It is common to pretend that
some clear divisor has been set between what was and what will be.
But that is a fiction mainly used to peddle prognostications that
turn out to be as false as the occasion. For my part, I believe that
more of the same will predominate, as always. History creeps in when
we're not looking. We're told that the good times will continue, but
most Americans won't know what the pundits are talking about. If
times are so good, why are the majority of Americans worse off? The
reality is that there has been little if any recovery over the last
four years. Or eight, to give Obama his due.

More of the same: the
global economy will not seize up suddenly and leave us all to starve
in the dark, but it won't change much for the better, either. Wars
and atrocities and inequality and rape and torture will all go on,
and go on being ignored. So will the hollowing out of the American
middle class, as what once were government prerogatives of a
self-governing people continue to be treatied away to international
corporations. Police will continue their
extra-juridical execution of lower caste young men and the streets will
pulse with ineffective protests – because protesting in the streets
will not change the balance of power. Dying in the streets in large
numbers might, but not any time soon.

The number of Americans
trying to survive without a job will continue to increase, the
effective standard of living for most of the population will continue
to decline. The dollar is not going away and neither is the euro;
high priced oil will return as fracking starts to subside, and
climate change will continue to be ignored as we not-so-slowly burn
our way to oblivion.

The world’s finite
supplies of petroleum, along with most other resources on which our
extractive civilization depends, will continue depleting while we continue our blind faith in forever.More of the same. We'll
call it progress.

Our Motto

Keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.